What does being beloved look like? Feel like? Sound like? We're wrapping up our current exploration of these questions at The Phoenix Soul, in honor of our latest magazine issue, BELOVED. I'm delighted to welcome guest author Yashraj Talan to the blog today. He enchants us with a story about a mysterious song, and how it reminds him "we all need each other." Enjoy! -Amanda

Beloved: The Songby Yashraj Talan

Twenty minutes back I saw a man who while resting under the shade sang a song I didn't understand. The song was about nothing, yet he seemed to sing it with such dedication and effort as if it was all he knew, all he needed, and all he had. I stopped to listen, away from his line of sight. I was mistaken. The song was about everything.

Nineteen minutes back I saw a man who sang about how the sky was one big roof under which we all needed shelter. Every home has problems, and our home had far too many for one to handle alone, so we all need each other. We all need each other.

Eighteen minutes back I heard him sing the best melody of my life: the melody of my life, of the broken mess of my existence. Every tree is extending its arms wider each day for us yet all we do is cut them short, or walk away. Every plant, springing up despite all odds, not thinking if it's good enough for the world, because it knows it has to support life, and hopes.

Seventeen minutes back I smelled ecstasy, and to my surprise it wasn't just sweet, no. It was a mix of perspiration and sunflowers, and more perspiration and the smell of earth.

Sixteen minutes back I tasted life, and it wasn't all tasteless as they had often said. It was like victory, and laughter, and joy, and love, and like pain, and sorrow, and discomfort, and hatred, leaving a weird feeling in my mouth, of my malaise being replaced by the world's love.

. . . my malaise being replaced by the world’s love.

Fifteen minutes back I felt the pain of all the hurt I had ever caused, and all the wounds I couldn't heal, and all the things I couldn't be. I found freedom in this, for now I had more pain to be relieved, more wounds to be fixed, more things to be.

Fourteen minutes back he stopped singing, looked around to find me listening, and smiled at me. I thought I saw him hug me with his warmth, but then I saw how he stooped and walked with a limp, and I knew he'd only given warmth to my cold heart.

Thirteen minutes back I heard the voice of Now, and I heard it say, "Don't stop, don't give up, don't lose me," and I knew those were the last words to the song he had cut short. I knew the words to the song, for it was my life's song.

Twelve minutes back I decided to live a life with love, like I had found my home and it was under every tree's shade, every cloud's rain, and all the sun's rays.

Yashraj Talan, 17, is a passionate student from Durgapur, India who loves economics, writing, music, learning, and listening. When he is not reading, you can find him singing or debating or writing. He wishes we all learn to be like a phoenix, reborn from our failures. Find more of his writing at The Vibrant Newborns and The Hazy Road.